Henry in a Silver Frame by James Eastwood (Book Review)

Henry in a Silver Frame by James Eastwood
Published by Pocket Books, 1973
List Price; 95 cents

Elizabeth Edwardes is an aging English school teacher in her mid thirties who isn't very satisfied with her life. Most of this dissatisfaction stems from her lack of a healthy sex life. Most of her passions in that area are directed to one of her female students. Don't get me wrong, she's not in a relationship with the girl, she's just obsessed with her. Creepily, she follows the girl around town, but when she sees the girl having sex with a boy, her whole world is shattered. In a fit of psychic pain, she shoplifts and loses her job as a teacher. The only person Elizabeth feels she can bear her heart to is Marcello, a middle aged over sexed Italian writer whose reign as a literary lion is nearing an end. Her arrival in Italy gives Marcello the idea to have a rebirth as a writer of "faction", an emerging (in 1973) field where nonfiction is written with the literary verve of fiction. Marcello's plan? To manipulate Elizabeth and his young teenage lover, Dusty, into not only committing a crime, but to chronicle their deeds in writing, thereby having his comeback written for him!

I have to admit, I had never heard of James Eastwood when I picked up this book for 50 cents in a used bookstore. There's very little information about him on the internet, which is highly peculiar. He wrote a couple of novels in the thriller pulpy crime fiction genre after working most of the 1950s as a television writer. Henry in a Silver Frame was the last novel he wrote. I could find no personal info about him beyond his writing credits.

Was this novel a good read? Not really. It was interesting, and Eastwood really does a good job with his characterization and at times stumbles upon some deeper themes and motifs. I think the novel would have been a bit shocking back in 1973 because it depicts sexual matters in a very realistic way. I guess really, in the end that's really what this novel is about: Sex or the lack thereof. Elizabeth is for all intents and purposes an awkward virgin in her 30s who is engaged to Henry, a sexually repressed fading aristocrat who has his own sexual malfunctions. Marcello and his lover, Dusty, are pretty much the opposite side of the coin, which probably explains Elizabeth's attraction to them both. Even when Liz explicitly tries to explore her sexuality, she seems like a cold prude. She's moving in a physical carnal world with the emotional mentality of a teenager who has a crush on someone from afar.

The plot seemed a bit much to me, as if it was probably an idea Eastwood had thought about for a tv show like Alfred Hitchcock Presents. When you really examine it, it just doesn't hold water of being probable or believable....but I guess people have done really stupid things for love...even it's love of money.

I can understand why this writer is pretty much forgotten 42 years after his last novel was published. The plot of Henry wasn't anything special even though Eastwood's portrayal of his characters were first-rate. I can see how he would have been a good TV writer, as long as HE wasn't coming up with the story ideas. I most likely will not seek out other books by this writer. I don't think it would be easy to find them anyway.

My Grade: C